A number of automatic and repertory dialing telephones are known which seek to provide voice-controlled dialing of numbers. Among the limitations of such telephones are the need to manually enter new numbers or changes in numbers into the device, or the absence of "user-friendliness" which makes the use of the device difficult for the uninitiated.
In other devices, a limited form of voice-control is provided which must be coordinated with manual entry of the digits of the number. Further, some spokenword controlled telephones rely on communication with the user via a limited voice synthesized vocabulary which may be difficult to understand and which is prone to unintelligibility in certain high-noise environments or which may be inappropriate where confidential conversations are necessary. In addition, previous devices have been constructed of custom-designed special-purpose components which made them relatively expensive and therefore unavailable to the general public.